Many a home is filled with sadness and with sorrow
Many a heart is filled with anguish and with pain
See how Ireland, how she hangs her head in mourning
For the men who died at Upton far away.

Let the moon shine bright tonight along the valley
Where the heroes of Republic in ambush lay
May they rest in peace, those men who died for Ireland
Near the lonely woods of Upton far away.

Some were thinking of their mothers, wives and sweethearts
More were thinking of their good old Irish homes
Did they think of how they fought along the valley
As they marched out from Cork City to their doom.

It wasn’t long ’til the cry went out, ‘Fix bayonets!’
Manfully they fixed them for the coming fray
Manfully they fought and died to free old Ireland
Near the lonely woods of Upton far away.

Some are sleeping ‘neath the waters of Cork Harbour
More are sleeping ‘neath the good old Irish clay
But their voices seem to cry out ‘God save Ireland!’
From the lonely woods of Upton far away.

Let the moon shine bright tonight along the valley
Where the heroes of Republic in ambush lay
Their voices seem to cry out, ‘God save Ireland!’
From the lonely woods of Upton far away.

EM: Is that a common song, Joe?
JH: Well, it’s a very popular song in Ireland.
EM: Is it? Popular where? All over Ireland?
JH: All over Ireland. In fact, you couldn’t sing a better song in Ireland than that.
EM: What’s the episode it refers to?
JH: It refers to the Black and Tan period, 1921 to 22. And the reason I sang it for you now is because I was told there was a song in America, the air was more or less the same and that’s why I sang it for you.
EM: ‘The Moon is Shining on the Wabash.’

Notes

1. These remarks are not included on The Road from Connemara, but are on the audio tapes of the Mac Coll interviews deposited in the Joe Heaney Collection at the University of Washington (UW85–9.3). A transcription by Fred McCormick is also available.

A maudlin ballad relating to an incident in the War of Independence when three members of the IRA lost their lives in an engagement at Upton Junction, County Cork, on February 15th, 1921. The songwriter lifted his verse from an earlier song On the Shores of Havana, relating to the Spanish-American War. He [presumably the author of On the Shores of Havana] in turn took his inspiration from On the Banks of the Wabash written by Paul Dresser and Theodore Dreiser in 1899.